LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 




UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



SOME ELEMENTS 



OF 



HEBREW GRAMMAR. 



Rev. RANDALL C. HALL, A.M., 

Professor of Hebrew in the General Theological Seminary 



OF CO/V&5-N 

LNo. IZQ.lJL 



PUBLISHED l!Y THE AUTHOR, 

FOR THE USE OF HIS CLASSES. 

New York, 1879. 



h 



^ 



^ .^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, 

By RANDALL C. HALL, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



TONE OR ACCENT. 



I. When the tone is on the ultimate, a word is 

called milra (from below); when on the pen- 
nult, it is called milel (from above). The 
tone is never further back than the penult, 
i. e., two syllables. Vocal shva counts half 
a syllable. [Hence a sh'va after the tone is 
usually silent, except in many cases when a 
conjunctive recedes before a disjunctive.] 

The tone is called Recessive, when it is 
as far back as rules permit. 

II. No tone on : 

i. a letter with shva simple or compound. 
2. a syllable with f) local. 

III. General Rules of Position : 

i. A long vowel in a mixed syllable must 
have tone. 

2. A short vowel cannot stand in a pure 
syllable without tone or else metheg. [In 
a pure syllable a short vowel takes metheg 
if the vowel is a preformative vowel, in con- 
formity with a compound shva. See III. 5.] 



3. A long vowel has preference over a 
short one in taking tone. 

4. Ceteris paribus the tone is on the ul- 
timate rather than on the penult. 

5. A pure syllable takes metheg if fol- 
lowed by a sh'va or by a vowel which has 
arisen from sh'va, or if in the second place 
before the tone. [Metheg occurs, too, in 
mixed syllables, sometimes without appa- 
rent explanation. Hence in such a form as 
iPDp tne absence of metheg proves the 

first syllable mixed and kamets therefore 
short by I. of vowel and consonant changes, 
but the presence of metheg would not prove 
the first syllable pure or kamets long.] 
IV. Position on Verbs. 

1. The vowel of the second radical takes 
the tone when rules permit. 

2. In the preterit singular 1st and 2d 
masculine with vav conversive the tone is 
on the ultimate to distinguish from the same 
persons and tense with vav conjunctive. 

3. The future 2d and 3d singular with 
vav conversive takes tone on penult if the 
penult is pure and the ultimate mixed. 

4. Some apocopated futures being pro- 
perly segolates follow the rule for segolates. 



This rule is — Helping vowels do not take 
tone. 
V. Suffixes and Affixes. 

i. An incomplete syllable, e. g., Q t (am) 
added to a notm will take tone on itself. 

2. An incomplete syllable added to a 
vtrb, {a) if affix, will take recessive tone ; (6) 
if suffix, will draw the tone forward one syl- 
lable. 

3. The addition of a pure syllable takes 
recessive tone. 

4. A mixed syllable takes tone on itself. 
Syllables are divided into : 

1. Mixed or close. Such begin and end 
with a consonant. 

2. Pure or open or simple. Such begin 
with a consonant and end with a vowel. 

A syllable is called incomplete, when it 
begins without a consonant. 

Participles, adjectives, and prepositions 
are accented as nouns. 

Suffixes are fragmentary pronouns, e. g., 
H(DID) her (horse), %?£$) (he killed) 
him. 

Affixes are personal inflections of verbs 
and terminations of gender and number in 
verbs and nouns, e. g. y PKDID) sne (ho rse ) 

K?tpp T ) the y ( killed )- 



VOWEL AND CONSONANT CHANGES. 



j. The vowels i and u and the sign T (kamets) 
are short in unaccented mixed syllables. 
Otherwise they are long. [But with metheg 
in a simple syllable T may be a conforming 
vowel and therefore short. This rule is to 
be compared with III. 5, of Tone.] 

2. B'gad c'phath letters take daghesh lene 
when not preceded by a vowel sound in 
close connection. 

Final ca, cem, and cen never take da- 
ghesh lene. 

3. Pure vowels are a i u 
Diphthongal vowels are e o 

a) In accented syllables before a double 
consonant or before two consonants, diph- 
thongal are preferred to pure vowels. 

b) In unaccented syllables before a 
double consonant the pure vowels i and u 
are preferred to diphthongal e and o. 

4. A final guttural must have either the "a" 
sound before it or furtive pattahh under it. 



5. A guttural (especially if unaccented) be- 
tween two "a" sounds will often cause the 
first "a" to become segol, or the second "a" 
to become segol. 

6. Before the plural terminations Q\ and ft 
segolates take pretonic kamets and drop 
their first vowel. 

7. Segolates revert to their primitive form ; 

a) in the singular before all suffixes ; 

b) before the termination p| t ; 

c) in the construct plural and dual; 

d) generally in the absolute dual. 
N.B. — Rule 7 takes precedence when 

conflicting with other rules. 

8. Before the plural and dual terminations and 
before the feminine terminations ft t the 
following changes take place : 

a) In the ultimate, tsere is rejected, ex- 
cept in a monosyllable or in a syllable pre- 
ceded by kamets. 

b) Kamets and tsere in the penult are 
rejected if in the resulting form they come 
in the antepenult. 

N.B. — Before the dual termination, the 
feminine singular reverts to its primitive 
termination ft. Caution; apply the rule 
before making the addition. 



9- Construct State. 

a) In a mixed final syllable, kamets is 
shortened to pattahh, and so is tsere, if pre- 
ceded by kamets. 

b) Kamets and tsere before the tone are 
rejected. 

Note. Sh'va is vocal in construct plural 
and dual, when resulting from dropping a 
pretonic vowel. 
10. Before Suffixes. 

a) Before the grave suffixes (cem, cen, 
hem and hen) all nouns take construct state. 

b) Before light suffixes, feminine nouns, 
singular and plural, take construct state. 

c) Before light suffixes, masculine nouns, 
singular and plural, take the same form as 
before the absolute plural termination. 

d) Before light suffixes dual nouns take 
the same form as before the absolute dual 
termination. 

Verbs. 
ii. If the future kal is middle a, the impera- 
tive is middle a. 

12. Verbs ayin gut, lamed gut, and lamed aleph 
have future and imperative kal middle a. 

13. In verbs pe nun, when the nun is pointed 
with sh'va and is at the end of a syllable, 



the nun may be dropped and the next letter 
take daghesh to compensate. The nun of 
the kal imperative is usually dropped if 
middle a, never if middle o. Nun is drop- 
ped in kal infinitive construct of but few 
verbs, and then it takes the feminine termi- 
nation J"), and is of segolate formation. 

14. In verbs lamed gut, tsere (**) before the gut. 
is changed to pattahh, except in infinitive 
absolute and participle. 

15. In verbs ayin ayin, when 1st radical is 
pointed with sh'va, the 2d may be dropped 
and its vowel given to the first. In devel- 
oping, make the additions to the contracted 
3d sing. masculine ; in the imperative to the 
contracted 2d sing, masculine. 

16. In verbs ayin ayin and ayin vav, the pre- 
formative takes a long vowel in future kal, 
preterit niphal, and throughout hiphil and 
hophal, when not affected by the shifting 
of the tone. This rule is not used in devel- 
oping forms, but only to show results. 

17. In verbs ayin ayin and some parts of verbs 
ayin vav, before an affirmative beginning 
with a nun or thav, an epenthetic vowel is 
added, viz. *j in preterit, ^ v in future and 
imperative. 

18. In verbs pe yod properly pe vav, there are 



two subdivisions in kal future, imperative, 
and infinitive construct. In the first subdi- 
vision the yod of the root is dropped in 
these parts ; the preformative of the future 
has tsere, and the infinitive construct has 
the termination ft and is of segolate forma- 
tion. 

In the second subdivision the yod of the 
root is kept in, the future is middle a, and 
its preformative has i p .). The vav is re- 
stored in niphal, hiphil, and hophal. 
19. When two vocal shva's come together, for 
the first a short vowel is substituted. 

If the first be a compound shva, its ho- 
mogeneous vowel is substituted. 

If the second be a compound shva, the 
previous syllable conforms, i. e., takes the 
homogeneous vowel. 



II 



SOME PRIMITIVE FORMS. 



Dl 







Id 


• 


*>$$ 


of flX 


^Oj? 


of ^p r 


(n^Dp) n^Dp of n^p 

— — I: — ! 


"'J-ftBj? 


of rppi3p T 


Dinppp 


of Dfl^p 


bcDp; 


of biop: 


^Qp3 ' 


of ^p; 


^£p 


of ^p 


^ippn < 


^f ^ppn 



Application of SRules for Vowel and 
Consonant Changes. 





Regular Noun. 




I. 


('.) 


/SDD m - s - an d pi- 


(2.) 


/D3 9> a anc l I 3 ? from (i.) 


(3-) 


D^9? 8 > b > from (!■) 


(4-) 


v£2 9 ' b ' from (3,) 


(5) 


*?D5 IO > c ' from (3-) 


(6.) 


*vB5 IO, c ' from ^ 


(7-) 


DiblDS io > a > from ( 2 -) 


(8.) 


DID vD3 IO > a > from (4-) 



'3 
II. 



(!•) bEQ f-> s - and pi- 
ca.) n3p5 8, b, from (i.) 
(3-) n5s3 9, b, from (2.) 
(4-) fl?'9$ 8, b, from (1.) 

(5-) ri^DS 9, b , f rom (4-) 

( 6 -) ^BS 10, b, from (3.) 

(7-) ^55 10, b, from (5.) 

< 8 -) 051^95 10, a from (3.) 

(9-) D^ri?S5io,a,from( 5 .) 

III. 

(1.) 7D3 dual, masc. and fern. 

( 2 -) Dl3^5 8, b, from (1.) 
(3-) ^D5 9. b, from (2.) 

(4-) VBS I0 > d » from ( 2 -) 
— t : 

(5-) DDvBS IO > a > from (3-) 



14 

( 6 -) D^rvcs 8 > b > and n ° te from n - ( 2 -) 

(7-) T^Da 9, b, from (6.) 
(8.) Tl^DS 10, d, from (6.) 
(9-) DDYl^DS 10, a, from (7.) 



Segolate. 

I. 
( a PD3 P r - (*■) /D3 m - s - and P 1 - 

(30 ^72S9 ? band 7 ? c ? from ( 2 ) and ( 1 -) 

(4.) vS3 7, a and note, from (1.) 

(5-) vSS IO > c > from ^ 

(6-) D2/D3 7? a and note ? ^ rom ( T -) 
(7-) D3vD3 IO > a > from (3) 



i5 
II. 
(a.) ^g3 pr. (i.)^93 f s. and pi. 

(2-)n^D3 7, b, from (i.) 
t : — 

(3-) r#95> from ( 2 -) 

(4.) rlPpS 6, from (a.) 

(5-) n?D3 9> band 7,c,from(4)and(i.) 

(6.) \^D3 io, b, from (3.) 

(7-) T^£3 IO ' b ' from (5-) 
(8-) Din^53 JO. a, from (3.) 
(9-) Di*ri^3 10, a, from (5.) 

III. 

(a.) ^S3 P r - ('•) PD3> dual m - and f- 
(2.) D"fi53 7 ' d ' from (l>) 
(3-) vB3 7. c > fr° m r and ( 2 -) 



i6 



(4-) ^53 IO ' d > from ( 2 -) 

(5-) D3^S3 io, a, from (3.) 

(6.) D^ri^S 8 > note, from II. (2.) 

(7-) T)^2 9, b, from (6.) 

(3-) t6D3 10, d, from (6.) 

(9-) D!DYl?D3 10, a, from (7.) 



SOME ELEMENTS 



OF 



EBREW GRAMMAR. 



Rev. RANDALL C. HALL, A.M., 

Professor of Hebrew in the General Theological Seminary. 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 
FOR THE USE OF HIS CLASSES. 

New York, 1879. 



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